The dreams harbored by many young people of running away with the circus dates back well over 100 years. Who would not dream of boarding the train that carried the Barnum & Bailey Circus around the country, visiting far off places and performing death defying feats in front of enthralled crowds? For most who fancied that dream, it remained only that – a dream.

Some who did take the plunge likely discovered the dream was not what they planned as they ended up with jobs such as raising the tents, packing and unpacking gear, and cleaning up after a host of assorted animals.… Read More

How do you combine responsible investing, concern for the environment, and a desire to effect meaningful change in your local community? Norwich resident Norm Levy may have found one answer that you haven’t considered yet.

After working as a physician at Dartmouth-Hitchcock for 25 years, Norm retired in 2013 and began wondering what to do next. Aside from “for fun” projects – including wine tastings – he wanted to focus his ability on good works that would yield results in Norwich and the Upper
Valley. Starting from a passion for increasing sustainability efforts especially among lower-income members of the community, Norm started looking for a way to support local weatherization programs.… Read More

From Norwich to Washington, DC: Working in a US Senate Office

It’s clear from the pages of the Norwich Times that Norwich youth have covered the world through trips, jobs, and adventures of all sorts. This coverage includes Washington, DC, where Norwich is well represented in many government offices. Consider three recent Hanover High School graduates who currently work or recently held an internship in the office of one of our Vermont congressional members, Senator Bernie Sanders. What inspired these recent graduates to work in the Senate and move from Vermont to Washington DC, and what have their experiences been working as civil servants in DC?… Read More

Meeting Norwich’s Katie Kitchel is a bit like catching hold of a rocketship. She gives the impression of fast movement even when she’s sitting down. But she focuses her attention on what she’s doing or saying – this is not a woman who indulges fog.

Katie Kitchel in We the People’s 1776

She obviously loves children, smiling and admiring new babies that friends bring into a cafe, and she is keenly aware of how long her own children, a sophomore, a 6th grader, and a 3rd grader, can benefit by supervising themselves and when some adult contact would be a good idea.… Read More

Every spring, Leadership Upper Valley, a program of Vital Communities, hosts its annual Heroes & Leaders Celebration to recognize individuals who make extraordinary contributions to the Upper Valley. This year’s 25th-anniversary event on May 30 honored 12 leaders who add immeasurably to the vitality of the region, including several inspiring neighbors from right here in Norwich.

Penny McConnel and Liza Bernard

Adapted from remarks by Allan Reetz of the Hanover Co-op Food Stores

If there were a book about The Norwich Bookstore and its founders and co-owners, Liza Bernard and Penny McConnel, it would impart lasting lessons of business and community.… Read More

An inconspicuous and little-known migratory songbird drew me to Cuba three winters ago. The island’s people and landscape captured me, and have kept me coming back.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Cuba’s birds – both resident and migrant – and the places they live are a huge draw for me. They’ve led me to the island’s highest peak at 6,476 feet elevation, and taken me to remote cloud forests where humans had probably never tread. But, my most enduring memories invariably involve my local colleagues, now my friends.

We’ve shared the thrill of discoveries; the humor needed for a fifth consecutive dinner of instant mashed Until recently, VCE’s efforts centered on Hispaniola – especially the Dominican Republic – where 80-90% of the planet’s approximately 100,000 Bicknell’s Thrushes overwinter.… Read More

The four words we use to describe this experience to our friends are Shock, Awe, Gratitude, and Joy.” Kristin Brown and her husband, Stuart Close, have had ample opportunity to recount their once-in-a-lifetime adventure as unexpected VIP attendees at this year’s Superbowl game in Atlanta. Sitting in their living room in Norwich thinking back on their trip yet again, they both keep breaking into huge smiles. “We were just pinching ourselves that whole weekend and couldn’t  believe that it was actually happening. So far outside our normal life.”

Kristin and Stuart were seated next to singer/actress Vanessa Hudgens

No mere ballgame, the Superbowl has been described as “a celebration of our shared American condition,” and, “a combination of Thanksgiving-like feasting, Fourth of July-like Americanism, and Christmas-like commercialism into a spectacle that draws the largest audience for any event in modern national life.” Even those who aren’t into football will make an exception and join friends to watch the big game in February.… Read More

It was just one more challenge that the January night of the awards ceremony threatened a dismayingly snowy drive. But—as the award bears witness—overcoming challenges is a specialty of Opera North, the Upper Valley’s esteemed homegrown opera company. Three intrepid representatives of the company set forth for Concord, NH, to receive the New Hampshire Theatre Alliance’s Matty Gregg Award for Vision and Tenacity.

“I think of it as New Hampshire’s equivalent of the Tony awards,” says Opera North’s Director of Development (and former Norwich resident), Maria Laskaris. ON was being honored for its collaboration with the National Park Service (NPS) which resulted in last summer’s “Singers and Swingers,” a surprising blend of opera music and circus performance at the NPS site, Blow-Me-Down Farm.… Read More

Community members who attended the Root District Schoolhouse Gathering on October 22, 2018, recalled fond memories of potluck suppers, movie nights, birthday parties, and dance classes spanning 50 years at the one-room schoolhouse on Union Village Road at Goodrich Four Corners.

This lively event was held at the Norwich Historical Society to envision the future of the building. The Root District Game Club Board elicited ideas and posted sticky notes on bright pink schoolhouse posters. Suggestions ranged from using the building as a venue for yoga and art classes to poetry readings and a winter tracking event.

Root District Game Club Board – Carla Vincent, Suzie
Wallis, Mary Layton, John Vincent, Courtney Dobyns
(president), Tricia Spellman, (front row) Jean Lawe,
John Lawe.… Read More

On a cold, snowy late November night, a small crowd gathered in the Congregational Church on the Norwich Green. Representing four Upper Valley congregations, they had come to attend an interfaith Thanksgiving service to express their “thanks for the blessings we share.” Bidding them welcome, Pastor Mary Brownlow remarked that the universal theme of gratitude “calls for deep thoughts and sentiments, and draws us out of our narrow concerns into a larger, spiritual realm.” Setting the theme for the service, she said, “We’re mindful of family, friends, and strangers who surround us with neighborly love. May the companionship we share satisfy each hunger for community.”

The Rev.… Read More